Back to the many little projects of this boat.
sandpaper and acetone cleans rudders pretty damn well...
although, they may have lost some strength in that process as well...
that was probably me just putting too much weight on it though...
So i fixed it
that fix broke under it's own weight though...so it was time for another rudder.
with a new rudder came new motivation
decided to try something new...haven't regretted it yet
that paint does come off when the rudders go up and down, but that's no big deal, you have to look close to see that. You'll also see that I have the mast tip painted, out of laziness from not wanting to want to flag that every time i take the boat out.
made a sail bag to keep the sails clean and together while trailering, as they had to be strapped to the mast to get them anywhere
the board that you see strapped to the roof rack in the picture above was my dad's idea, to give us something to push against while raising and lowering the mast instead of just the slippery tramp. The board has 2 grippy pads like you'd find on outdoor stairs, carpet over the ends to protect the carpet on the boat, and we just use two c-clamps to hold it in place while using it.
i'll have to go out and use a real camera to take pictures of all these things now .
the summer camp that I work at had quite a few sail tubes and boxes laying around that they didn't need, so i STOLE one.
but not really. They don't use them, as all the Hobies are kept on a beach, so they told me "if you can get one of those home, it's yours"
200 miles later, the tube was mine
the fiberglass on it was peeling, but i liked the look of it, so i gave it a good spraying of clear spray paint, set it about where i wanted it on the trailer, and got to work.
first were the end closures.
I started with a good sized piece of wood, cut it down to near the size of the opening with a reciprocating saw, and I sanded down the edges to make it fit. then I sanded more. and more. added some paint, and that got me here:
then i needed a way to pull it out of there...so it got a handle.
to keep the end in place, i cut rectangular holes in the tube across from each other, and bought some flat, pliable aluminum
one end of the aluminum bent to be easily pulled out of the hole without slipping through, the other with a hole drilled for a lock. i'll have to take some pictures tomorrow.
I made the other end differently, to be able to fit over the end loosely, so that any water inside would pour right out and not be trapped in.
So far, I love having a tube, it is much better than tying the sails to the mast like some sort of primitive caveman.